julius wrote:Yes, yes, I too sweat buckets no matter what the song is. But I make three assumptions regarding the "what gets newbies hooked" question.
1) dancing to slower music often focuses energy inwards, not out. and the only reason i say "often" instead of "always" is because I saw Ogden and Amanda in Blues at ALHC 2001.
2) Newbies love the outwards energy, the flash, the trash.
3) low-fidelity recordings are a turnoff
Given these assumptions, low-energy and/or slower tempo music are not ideal for attracting newbies. Ideally you want hi-fi, high-energy, fast music. Does that describe a genre of music we know? Oh yeah, neo.
We are perhaps both overgeneralizing and lumping all "newbies" into the same category and thus making equally legitimate but seemingly-contradictory observations. Our observations also both seem to reflect the sort of newbies we would like to see enter the scene: yours would like high-energy fast music, whereas mine would like music you could sink you teeth into and doesn't fly by too fast to enjoy.
I understand your point about high-energy music attracting people, but most of those people would have been roped in through the Neo Swing craze six years ago if high-energy music was what they wanted. There is a significant crowd that wants exactly the opposite, and really enjoys hearing accessible swing music that shatters that high-energy Jump Jive myths.
Its not that they want soft, low-energy "Chris Connor" or "Miles Davis" swing that, yes, does sometimes only put you to sleep, but that they enjoy the "Gene Harris" groove stuff (e.g., Harris' version of "Don't Get Around Much Anymore"). Rod Stewart's "Having a Party" off his Unplugged disc is another (albeit surprising) good example: with a rich, deep, hard-grooving swing. For those who went to the Austin Exchange, the Texas Trumpets (Sunday Night) is another good example.